Chapter 14
A few days passed without anything much happening. Audrey still hadn’t heard from Kenny and there was an ache forming in her chest. It took her some time to figure out what it meant, but then it hit her—she missed him. She longed to hear his voice, see his smile, or just sit and talk to him. She wanted to see him. She wanted to spend time with him.
But this realization had deeper implications. If she was at the point of missing him, then her feelings for him ran deeper than she’d thought they had. And that was dangerous. Not just because it could lead to something more serious, but also because he wasn’t currently talking to her. If she was going to fall for someone, it had to be in a situation that made it more stable and present than whatever this thing with Kenny was. She couldn’t let herself fall for him. Not now. Not like this.
She folded her laundry and stood in her bedroom, putting clothes away, when her phone rang. As she had been for days now, she ran to it, heart hopeful. But on the screen it didn’t say Kenny’s name. It said Jessie, who was one of Audrey’s pack mates. They were friendly and talked now and then, even if they weren’t the best of friends.
“Hey Jessie,” she said.
“Audrey.” She said it so insistently, it made Audrey put down the pants she was folding.
“Yeah?”
“What in the world, girl?”
“Umm…?”
“What did you do!” Jessie was almost shouting now.
“What do you mean?” Audrey’s heart skipped into sudden high speed.
“Umm, the pack is talking. About you. Shifting. In front of someone.”
“They are?” Audrey swallowed hard. What did that mean?
“Why did you do that?”
“It’s a long story. It was an emergency, though, and he’s a shifter, too, so I thought it would be okay. I just… I don’t know. I didn’t really think much about it. Like I said, it was an emergency.”
“Well, I don’t know if they see it that way.”
“Why? What are they saying? And who?”
“The leadership,” Jessie said. “All of them.”
So that meant Kara, the alpha, and her collection of shifters that were under her. A total of six of them made up the leadership of their pack, which currently had twenty-three members.
“Well, what are they saying?” Audrey asked.
“They won’t let me in there when they’re talking, but I think they’re just figuring out what to do.”
“What to do…” Audrey echoed.
Would they kill her, then? Excommunicate her from the pack? Being excommunicated would be almost as bad as being killed. She’d have no one to run with, no one to fight with, to protect her. Being a lone tiger was not a good thing. She might even end up having to move, to try to find a new pack. Though being accepted into a new pack after being excommunicated from one was extremely difficult. She might be destined to be on her own forever, with an enemy pack very close by if they all turned on her.
“This is bad,” Jessie said.
“Yeah.”
“I can’t even remember the last time someone broke the rule. Probably have to look back through history and everything. I think they killed him. I think that’s almost always what they do.”
“Thanks. It’s so helpful to know that,” Audrey said, sarcasm deep in her voice.
“I’m just saying. I thought you should know. So it wouldn’t be a surprised or anything. Maybe you should run.”
“I’m not going to do that.” Though it might be her best option. Might be her only option if she was going to survive this. “Maybe they’ll decide it’s okay. Maybe since it’s been so long and things have changed so much with bear shifters, maybe it’s okay. Maybe they’ll even talk about it being time for us to come out, too. Let the world know it’s not just bear shifters.”
“Maybe,” Jessie said. “But it’s not like the bears have had it easy. They face all kinds of prejudice all the time. They probably wish they could go back to being a secret.”
“Maybe. I just have to be hopeful, I guess. What choice do I have?”
“Well, you could run. Not that I want you to leave or anything, but would you rather stick around and be hunted?”
“I can’t just leave my job. I have patients. And besides, if I run, it makes me look guilty. And my stance is that it was an emergency and he’s a shifter, too, so it’s okay. He won’t tell anyone.”
“You’re sure? What if you break up or something?”
“We’re not together. We just had the one date.”
“Oh.” There was a long pause. Then Jessie said, “How do you know he won’t tell then?”
“I just know him.” It stung every time she said or thought something like that. She knew him a little. Not enough. And based on how he was acting now, there was a good chance that she was very wrong about him. If he couldn’t control his anger, then maybe he would tell.
“I hope you’re right. I’d hate to think what would happen to you if he told.”
“Right.” So did she.
“Well, good luck. I guess.”
“Thanks.”
Audrey hung up and the dread settled deep in her bones. The idea to run came back again, but what she’d said to Jessie was true. She couldn’t just up and leave. And wouldn’t they be able to find her anyway somehow? To track her down and hunt her until they killed her? Maybe not, but it felt like that. Like if she ran, she’d be running forever, always looking over her shoulder. That was no way to live.
She picked up the phone and left another message for Kenny. “Look, you obviously don’t want to talk to me and I get it. Really. That’s fine, but I have to talk to you about something and it’s really important. Please just call me back and hear what I have to say. It’ll take you five minutes. Please.”
She waited, but not with high hopes. If he hadn’t seen fit to call her back before, when she’d said how important it was all the other times, why would this be any different? She didn’t have to wait long. After she’d hung up and called Kenny, just ten minutes later, there was a knock on her door. Immediately she thought, maybe it was him. Maybe he’d forgiven her and was standing on her doorstep with a dozen roses, ready to make up.
She got up and went to open the door. Right. Maybe it was Kenny. Or maybe it was the pack leadership come to take her life. She looked at Kara and swallowed hard.
“Didn’t know the party was at my house today,” Audrey said, but the joke fell short. There would be no making this situation light.
“Can we come in?” Kara asked.
Audrey stepped aside and let them in. Then she closed the door and walked back to the family room, where they waited for her. That short walk of a few feet seemed miles long and her feet felt weighed down with lead. This was it, then. She was walking to her death. Amazing how quickly she’d come to accept it. This were her last moments.
She faced the group of six and stood awkwardly. She wanted to sit. This was too much to stand for. She might pass out. But they’d sat on her couch and chair and there were no seats left.
“Take a seat,” Kara demanded from the front of the room.
Kara pointed to Scott, sitting in the armchair and gestured for him to get up. He did and Audrey sat, putting her hands between her knees.
“I’m sure you know why we’re here,” Kara said.
“To sell me Tupperware?” Audrey squeaked.
“You’ve done a very serious thing, Audrey. The most serious thing there is among tiger shifters. It’s really our only rule, and you broke it. The penalty according to tiger shifter law is death. We’re supposed to kill you, Audrey, do you get that?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“But, individual packs have always been allowed to govern themselves as well, so long as it doesn’t put the whole of the shifter race at risk. Which means, it’s essentially my call. Our call, of what to do here.”
“Can I have a moment to speak? To make my own case?” Audrey asked, her voice shaking as she pleaded.
“I had planned to give you a few moments to do that,” Kara said. “Are you prepared to do that now?”
Audrey nodded and turned to face the rest of the leadership. “It was an emergency. We were in the woods and I was with a friend who was injured. He couldn’t walk and I had to get help. I couldn’t just leave him there in pain to freeze. I’m a nurse. It’s my job to take care of people and help them. Plus, he’s a shifter, too. He’s a bear shifter. So he understands what it’s like. He knows the lifestyle and how hard it is for us all to exist in the world. He faces that prejudice every day of being a shifter. So, I know he won’t tell. The secret is safe.”
They stared back at her. Their expressions ranged from anger to surprise to plain disappointment.
Scott spoke up first. “The thing is, you might know him and know that, but how can we? What if you two have a fight or something and aren’t friends anymore? Then what?”
“Well…” This was the spot she could never answer well. The truth was, she didn’t even know. And they really weren’t friends now or much of anything at all. He might have already told someone for all she knew.
“Maybe we just need to talk to this guy ourselves,” Matt said.
Kara nodded. “That might be helpful. We can talk to him, let him know that he needs to keep our secret and that he’ll be putting Audrey’s life in danger if he doesn’t.”
Would that even mean anything to him at this point? Maybe he didn’t care if she died because of all this. Maybe he was just that mad.
“Is that an option?” Kara asked.
“We could go to his house and talk to him,” Audrey said. Because there was obviously no way they’ll get ahold of him over the phone. He still had refused to call or message her. But if a big group of people showed up knocking on his door, he’d have to answer, right?
“Let’s go then. We need to get this taken care of now, before it’s too late,” Kara said.
Audrey nodded. “I’ll lead the way.”
She grabbed her purse and went out to her car. Two other cars sat on the street in front of her house. The leaders got into the cars and they drove off.
Audrey was glad she was in the car alone. It gave her a chance to freak out without having to hide it. She breathed heavily and tried to calm herself down. She played some soothing music, singing along where she could. Anything to take her mind off of what she was about to do.
She didn’t even know if he was home or not. Part of her hoped he wouldn’t be, but a bigger part wanted him to be there desperately. It would be a chance to see him, even if not under the best circumstances and with a group of people present. And it would finally put this whole mess behind her. He could assure them that he wouldn’t tell the secret, and everyone could move on. If this day went really, really well, maybe it would be enough that they could start to talk again. But she wasn’t getting her hopes up for that. She didn’t want to be crushed all over again. Whatever happened, it would have to be enough for her to only get a glimpse of him and be near him for a few minutes.